GAO Urges Food-Import Ban on Countries With Lax Safety Rules

The United States should halt imports of fruits and vegetables from countries that do not meet American food safety standards in order to protect consumers from illness, a General Accounting Office report to Congress said Monday.

The recommendations were immediately endorsed by President Clinton and Democrats who have pushed for tougher food laws, as well as by Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the first Senate Republican to focus on the issue.

But imposing U.S. inspection standards on other nations could trigger a backlash from trading partners, some industry groups claimed.

The GAO report said the Food and Drug Administration should require exporters to adopt “equivalent” safety standards for fruits and vegetables, much like the Agriculture Department does with meat.

“This could have a potential adverse impact on trade,” said a spokesman for the Grocery Manufacturers of America. “You may get into a situation where foreign countries decide to arbitrarily stop imports of U.S. food.”

As many as 9,000 Americans die annually from food-borne diseases, and tens of thousands of others are sickened, according to federal estimates.

The report was released by Collins, who heads the Senate subcommittee on investigations. The panel, which usually probes issues such as government waste and campaign finances, was scheduled to hold the first of four hearings on food safety Thursday.

The FDA called the report a “wake-up call” for Congress to allocate additional funds for FDA inspectors.

Currently, FDA officials inspect just 1% to 2% of food imports under their jurisdiction and the pace of imports has increased rapidly as Americans demand more fresh produce year-round.

The growing volume of food imports has been accompanied by outbreaks of salmonella, E. coli infection, cyclospora and other food-borne diseases.